September 11/06 7:48 am - Track Nationals Day 4 Report

Posted by Editor on 09/11/06

Track Nationals - Dieppe, NBCourtesy CCA

Day 4

The Keirin and Madison races brought the Nationals to a close on Sunday. It was an Alberta sweep in the Keirin race, both in the men's and women's fields with Auna Brit Ericksenhave and Cam McKinnon winning titles. The Symmetrics pair of Christian Meier and Cameron Evans took the Madison title.

After three consecutive days of sunny weather and great track conditions, the event organizers had to overcome rain delays in the morning, but the show was worth waiting for, as numerous spectators came to enjoy the spectacular Keirin and Madison competitions. Unfortunately, in the last couple of minutes before the end of the Madison race, the team of Martin Gilbert and Zach Bell, which tied for second, was involved in a bad crash.

The final word goes to Alberta's coach, Jayson Gillespie: "Overall it was a fantastic event for Alberta. We had riders on the podium at almost every event, in both men's and women's fields. Auna Brit was able to win all three power events (sprint, kilo and keirin) and reach the goal she had set for herself. Stephanie Roorda is bringing home a bronze in the sprint. Travis Smith earned the national title in sprint, with Cam McKinnon at second place. Felix Haspel, a road athlete, took a silver medal in kilo and two 5th positions (keirin and sprint), for his first year on the provincial team. Laura Brown made podiums in the individual pursuit and keirin, etc. All in all, it's been a terrific event for Alberta, now we hope that Zach Bells recovers soon."

New Brunswick's Christian Meier from Sussex, who now spends most of his time in Langley, BC, commented: "Our strategy was to take a lap on Martin (Gilbert) and Zach (Bell), and hold it to win. It was the only way to go as we're good at endurance but we can't sprint against them."

Team Kodak Gallery Sierra Nevada of Martin Gilbert (QC) and Zach Bell (YK, racing for Alberta) were in a very good leading position during the whole competition and were indeed very strong at sprinting. But they did not finish due to a crash where Zach's wheel hit Martin's during a relay, at nine laps to go. Zach was transferred to the hospital as a precaution, but according to the medical staff on site, he should be fine.